DCA Disburses More Than Half a Billion Dollars in Federal Emergency Rental Assistance

  • Posted on: 01/13/2022

Because of its High Performance in Distributing Rental Assistance, DCA Receives Additional $42 Million from the Federal Government to Help More Renters Impacted by the Pandemic

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) announced today that it has disbursed more than $518 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds to New Jersey residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rental relief has been distributed to 58,469 households by DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources during the second phase of the State’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (CVERAP).

Also, DCA announced today that the State of New Jersey has received an additional $42.7 million in federal rental assistance funds that were reallocated by the U.S. Department of Treasury based on DCA’s high performance in distributing the aid to households in need. DCA is the state agency in charge of administering the federal rental assistance on behalf of the State. In fact, the State of New Jersey was one of only three states to receive reallocated funds from other states in the nation that didn’t use them. The other states were California and New York, and the State of New Jersey received the second highest reallocation among these states.

“Governor Murphy and I are incredibly proud of DCA for reaching this milestone of disbursing over half a billion dollars in rental assistance to people who have been financially impacted by the pandemic,” said Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, who serves as DCA Commissioner. “The rapid deployment of these funds has led to DCA receiving additional funds to serve more residents who are struggling to pay their rent.”

Of the households that received rental assistance in the second phase of CVERAP, the overwhelming majority – 88 percent – are considered either extremely low-income (less than 30 percent of area median income) or very low-income (less than 50 percent of area median income).

The following is demographic information about the program participants to date:

Race

Percentage of Households Assisted

American Indian/Alaska Native

0.6%

Asian/Pacific Islander

5.8%

Black/African American

44.5%

Other

18.0%

White

30.9%

Data Not Collected

0.1%

 

Ethnicity

Percentage of Households Assisted

Hispanic

28.6%

Not Hispanic

71.3%

“We are also urging people who are in danger of being evicted from their home to protect themselves by filling out the eviction protection self-certification form offered by the State,” added Lt. Governor Oliver.

The State introduced critical eviction protections for renter households that have experienced economic hardships during the pandemic. To be protected from eviction due to nonpayment of rent from March 2020 through August 31, 2021, tenants must self-certify as to their income for these protections. To be protected for the months of September 2021 through December 31, 2021, they must self-certify their income and also apply in some way for rental assistance through local, county, and/or state government. To find out more about current eviction protections available and how to self-certify for these protections, people can visit https://covid19.nj.gov/renter.

Applications are currently closed for the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Phase II and the Eviction Prevention Program. DCA will use the additional $42.7 million in federal rental assistance funds received to help more households on the waiting list for the programs. If people submitted a pre-application for these programs prior to the closing of the application period on December 15, 2021 and are contacted by DCA, they should follow the instructions they are given.

If people have not previously submitted a pre-application for these programs and are in need of help in paying rent arrears or future rent, they may submit a pre-application at https://njdca.onlinepha.com/ to be considered if DCA reopens the application period in the future.  Submitting such a pre-application counts towards applying for rental assistance for the purposes of protection from eviction for nonpayment of rent from September 2021 to December 2021.

Today’s announcement is the latest demonstration of DCA’s high performance in distributing emergency rental assistance compared to other states. For example, last year, DCA expended the entire first tranche of $353 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance it had received by October 15, beating the federal deadline to spend the funds by nearly one year. Also, a U.S. Treasury report released in August of 2021 showed New Jersey as first in the nation among state-administered ERA programs in terms of percentage of Emergency Rental Assistance funds spent.

In addition to the more than $518 million in rental relief that DCA has disbursed to nearly 58,500 households in the second phase of the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the Department distributed $91.75 million to 15,000 households in the first phase of the program in 2020. 

DCA offers a wide range of programs and services, including energy assistance, housing vouchers, affordable housing production, fire and building safety, community planning and development, local government management and finance, and disaster recovery and mitigation.

For more information about DCA, visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow the Department on social media: 

   DCa on Twitter

         

Contact:

DCA:
Lisa Ryan,
Gina Trish,
Tammori Petty
ph#: 609-292-6055